Wake-up! Vancouver-area hit by 4.9 magnitude earthquake

An earthquake hit the Vancouver, Victoria and Georgia Strait area at about 11:39 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 29. There have been no reports of injuries but it woke some sleepers while others slept right through it.

Earthquake felt in cities

The tremors were felt in Vancouver and Victoria and lasted mere seconds. Some witnesses reported walls shaking slightly and then abruptly stopping. Witnesses in Vancouver said they saw buildings shaking downtown. The quake was a magnitude 4.9.

The earthquake monitoring site EMSC said it struck 74 km south of Vancouver and 17 km northeast of Victoria. Earthquake Canada said the seismic activity was 42 km deep.

CTV Canada wrote on its Twitter page that it was "receiving reports of buildings shaking from downtown Vancouver to East Vancouver. Did you feel it?" Mike Killeen, a news anchor for the station wrote, on his Twitter page that "We always wait for more - right? #VancouverEarthQuake."

On social media residents of Vancouver and Victoria wrote of experiences during the tremors. Some called it "violent" and others "terrifying" and noted that china rattled in their cupboards.

"it was a very small vibration, than another, then a big jolt that rattled Christmas decorations on the tree," one observer wrote. "It felt like someone crashed into the sofa I was sitting in. It shifted!"

Quakes in U.S. states

The Vancouver-area quake comes six hours after a minor earthquake hit the San Bernardino County area of California that the U.S. Geological Survey reported was a magnitude of 4.4. Those tremors hit in the foothills northeast of San Bernardino at 5:38 p.m.

And still earlier on Tuesday, at 5:39 a.m., there was a 4.3 magnitude quake felt near Edmond, Oklahoma. There were no injuries or damage but power was for a time knocked out to some 4,500 homes in the region.

There were no reports of major damage to buildings or property in B.C. and no major aftershocks had been felt in the region. Some areas of northern Washington state also felt the quake.